What is wrong with my pepper plants?

Fri Jun 18, 2010 12:17 am

Anyone have any idea what is wrong with my pepper plants? These are California Wonder bells. Are they supposed to look like this? I have 7 plants and they all have developed these curly, leathery? leaves.

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Fri Jun 18, 2010 1:56 am

Looks like herbicide damage. Most commonly from 2,4,D and the like in sprays, grass clippings, or runoff from lawn service application, weed and feed products etc. We are also seeing quite a bit of aminopyralid type herbicide damage in gardens from manure and manure compost. These herbicides are used on pastures and hay fields to control broad leaf weeds. It passes right on through the horse etc and is active for many months. It is usually not a problem from bagged commercial compost and manures because of quality control measures, so it is usually from "Free manure" sources.

http://www.bae.ncsu.edu/topic/vermicomp ... ryover.pdf

Fri Jun 18, 2010 2:19 am

TZ-OH6

That's interesting information. I don't think the hay fields here, are sprayed with herbicides, but I will be asking questions. The hay bales are full of weed seed.

emilk,
You sould add to your profile so we now where you live.

Can you tell use more about your growing technics. Water, fertilizer, weather. How deep is the box. It looks to be framed with 2x4s. Soil depth, drainage.

Thank you
Eric

Fri Jun 18, 2010 2:46 am

Hmm..interesting info.

A little bit more about my garden. Yes, these are raised beds made with 2 x 10s. The peppers are actually in my square foot garden, so only a foot apart. This is my second year gardening and I planted peppers in the raised beds last year (different location) and they did great. I haven't used any chemicals on the garden at all and grew these from seed under grow lights. They have been in the garden for about 4 weeks and were looking good until about a week and a half ago. We have had a lot of rain lately. As far as drainage, I think it is pretty good. There is never any standing water in the raised beds.

Fri Jun 18, 2010 1:09 pm

Too much water suffocates roots and growth suffers. You get symptoms of mineral deficiency (various funny colors) rather than good growth with deformed leaves.

Do you have neigbors close to that bed? Where did the soil for that bed come from and when?

Fri Jun 18, 2010 1:24 pm

It looks like it could be some type of mosaic disease...possibly cucumber mosaic. Do the leaves feel somewhat thick and leathery?

Fri Jun 18, 2010 2:21 pm

TZ -OH6 wrote:Too much water suffocates roots and growth suffers. You get symptoms of mineral deficiency (various funny colors) rather than good growth with deformed leaves.

Do you have neigbors close to that bed? Where did the soil for that bed come from and when?

I have been worried about all the rain we have been getting, but I haven't seen any problems on any of the other garden plants. The garden is in the back corner of our yard, so there are neighboring yards close to it.......probably 20 feet from these plants each way. The soil was a mix of black dirt and compost from the garden center with peet moss and sand added last year.

garden5 - Yes, they feel kind of leathery. Is there anything I can do if it is that?